A MEMORIAL service to mark a horrific day in the Holocaust will be held in Dorset next week.

The Roma Holocaust Memorial Service will be held on Wednesday, August 2 in the Pengely Room at Kingston Mauward College, Dorchester.

The service, organised by Kushti Bok is to mark the 2,897 Roma and Sinti people who were killed on August 2, 1944 at the family camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The day also commemorates the victims of the Romani genocide which resulted in the murder of an estimated 220,000 to 500,000 Romani people by Nazi Germany.

Prayers, readings and poems will mark the day, delivered by members of Kushti Bok and its supporters.

Chair of the Bournemouth and Poole Holocaust Committee, Lynda Ford-Horne, will be speaking at the annual event, which has run since 2017.

The poignant event will begin at 12noon, with doors opening at 11.45am. It will last for around an hour and will be opened by chair of Dorset Council, councillor Val Pothecary.

The Romany flag will also fly over the college, the County Hall in Dorchester and the civic centre in Bournemouth.

Kushti Bok is hoping to fly the flag above Christchurch high street, too.

Representatives from both Dorset Council and BCP Council will be in attendance.

The event is open to the public, but to attend the service, seats must be requested and booked by getting in touch with Kushti Bok.